Asset forfeiture has been around since colonial times, when it was used to seize contraband and the ships transporting it and the profits of pirates on the high seas. In more recent times, it has served law enforcement well in combating violent and organized criminal enterprises and drug traffickers whose leaders launder and conceal money through an array of illicit schemes.

Organized crime and drug trafficking are big business and involve billions of dollars. Knowledge that money will be seized and not returned is an effective deterrent to committing more crime. Asset forfeiture, as allowed in Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ new guidelines, gives law enforcement another tool in its battle to restrain such crime.